It’s actually the world’s first national charging network for electric cars. That may sound a bit grand, for something quite wonderfully simple – a series of charging posts installed at motorway services up and down the country. Charging stations, for electric cars, that are easy to access and free to use (yes free). Enabling Britain’s electric car drivers to drive the length and breadth of the country – with all the convenience of simply pulling into a motorway service station to top up. We’re pretty chuffed with it, truth be told.

You may have read about already it in the Sunday Times this weekend. You shouldn’t have, but they broke the embargo on our story three days early for some reason – perhaps they’re a bit keen for stories that don’t involve phone hacking. Bless….

Anyway – Why are we building this Electric Highway? There are after all only some 2,000 electric cars on the road today. In fact that’s a big part of the reason – a lack of demand.

It’s often said that one of the reasons more people don’t buy electric cars is because of a lack of charging facilities – while the reason more charging facilities aren’t built is said to be because not enough people are buying electric cars – classic chicken and egg stuff. We’re hoping to break that impasse.

And at the same time another barrier to the faster take up of Electric Cars – is something called ‘range anxiety’ – the fear of running out of juice when doing any kind of serious distance.

So this is where the Electric Highway comes in, a national network of charging posts, installed on Britain’s motorway network; national facilities for electric vehicle owners – and long distance journeys. We’re hoping it’ll help kickstart Britain’s electric car revolution.

We chose the motorway network for good reason. The big focus to date, with charging posts, has been town and city centres – I think this is actually where they are needed the least. Car use statistics, point to this.

The average car in Britain does maybe 20 miles a day, a distance that most modern electric cars can sustain for almost a week without needing to charge. And most car owners have access to off street parking (70% apparently) – and therefore are able to charge at home, at night. Most cars won’t need to charge, most days. It’s the longer journeys where charging is needed most.

We’ve chosen where the power for this network comes from carefully too. The Electric Highway will be wind powered – and in doing this we’re making a serious point. Britain needs to switch to electric cars as fast as we possibly can – but that alone is not enough. Where the electricity comes from is vitally important. Electric cars need to be running on renewable energy sources, the power of the wind and the sun – only then does their full potential become realised – zero emission driving.

And can we do that as a Nation? Can all of us drive wind powered electric cars. The stats say yes.

There are 30 million cars on the roads of Britain, between them driving 150 Billion miles a year and burning some 20 odd million tonnes of oil. Oh and producing 70 million tonnes of CO2 (12% of our total emissions) in the process. Incredible numbers but we could power all of that with just 10,000 of today’s windmills and 5,000 of tomorrows (they double in size every few years).

And can the grid take it? It would require an increase in electricity delivered through the grid of about 12%, far less than most people think. And for context, pre the credit crunch, grid delivered electricity grew by around 3% a year (so we’re talking just four years normal growth to power all the UK’s cars). And most charging will take place at night, at times of low demand. The grid can easily cope, in fact if Britain switched to EV’s the grid would operate more efficiently.

And consider this. One of the truly revolutionary aspects of electric cars is that we can all be our own oil companies – we can make our own electricity – and power our own cars. A typical 5kW roof top solar system, for example, could provide some 5,000 miles of driving a year – pollution (and fuel duty) free.

Given this, perhaps in due course, the ‘anxiety’ around electric cars will pass from motorists to the oil companies – and maybe the government.

Hi John, for the most part our way to deal with Mr C and his electric car hype, is just to ignore him and get on with it.

Many people can see it’s just theatre (from him and the team), for the most part….:)

The EV revolution is coming. It just suits some people to rail against it – bit like windmills..:)

Cheers.

Tess Guilding

October 5, 2011 at 8:37 pm

Dear Dale,

We have a Nissan Leaf which we charge using solar PV panels on our roof, with Ecotricity as our supplier for years now.
We live in North Devon and we were delighted to discover the rapid charging point at Sedgemoor services, northbound and those at Michaelwood serviices, north- and southbound.

However, we cannot make a round trip to visit our grandchidren in Bristol and Gloucester because there is no southbound charging point at Sedgemnoor services, nor at Taunton Deane and Michaelwood to Umberleigh is beyond the range of the Leaf.

We understand that these service stations are Road Chef owned, not Welcome Break but please would you go back and negotiate with Road Chef and install a rapid charging point at either southbound services? Remind them that EV owners will spend time and money on their premises, whilst the car is recharging!
Without this, South West EV owners are effectively trapped on the peninsula, which is very frustrating.

Thank you for your help and keep up the good work.

Tess

David Peilow

October 6, 2011 at 8:04 am

Hi Tess,

If it helps to plug the gap, you can charge your Leaf at the Castle, Taunton while having a bite to eat at their restaurant Brazz.

A Leaf owner has already called in there, so they are ready for you!

David

Adam

January 6, 2012 at 2:16 pm

Hi Tess I just wanted to say how awesome your setup sounds! Did you document your installation (assuming it’s ‘homebrew’) or have any sources for more info?

T.Guilding

January 8, 2012 at 8:23 pm

Dear Adam,

We didn’t document the PV installation particularly: it was just part of our low-energy new build 2 years ago. I’m still waiting for a true rapid-charge network to enable us to travel to Bristol or Gloucester and back, charging both northwards and southwards, withoiut spending hours kicking our heels at motorway service stations.

Best wishes,

Tess

Derek

July 27, 2011 at 3:33 pm

Well done Dale.

I have inspected your charge point at Michaelwood Services today, but although your map indicates it is operational the signs and charge point were all sealed over with tape.

I expect it will be open soon.

I have a electric car ordered for early 2012 delivery sod then hope to sign up for your charge points

Regards

Derek

Dale Vince

July 27, 2011 at 4:38 pm

Hi Derek, I think there was just a delay in removing the ‘wrapping’ to make sure that South Mimms services today was the first to be unveiled.

Michaelwood is live, I was there yesterday (with the Sun of all people) with the Nemesis and we plugged in.

Good luck with the EV in 2012.

Cheers.

derek

July 27, 2011 at 6:21 pm

Just another point. Can you tell me the reason for the solar panel on the charging point? Maybe to illuminate the signs? I think it was only 1 panel so generation of 235 watts max.

Hi Dale, I highly commend your vison and drive to put all these polluters and greedy oil companies out of business. I believe and totally agree that the power of choice should be with the masses, and not governments and the multi-national corporations. Electric cars and alternative energy is the wave of the future. The sooner we harness this limitless energy source, the better it will be for all of us. Not only is it very good for our environments, it also empowers the masses by granting them control over these basic goods like energy source for their cars and homes. Thank you very much for your foresight and innovations. I am working doublely hard in Ireland to take this vision to Nigeria, and Africa as a whole. The future is now!!!…………………………I will stay connected to you and people with like minds to make my dream for Africa a reality.

Dale Vince

July 27, 2011 at 7:19 pm

Thanks Kingsley, and good luck with your work in Africa.

Jon

July 27, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Dale, how many kW is the fast charge socket?

Dale Vince

July 27, 2011 at 7:18 pm

Hi Jon, it’s 32A from a three phase supply – not sure on the voltage (and therefore kW) – but I’ll ask Paul to find out and confirm for you.

Hi Jon – funnily enough I was asked that question on twitter today – they’re IEC62196 (7pin) so can go up to 64kW

Paul

David

July 28, 2011 at 9:15 pm

Hi,

IEC62196 goes up to 44kW but not all installations are capable of that.

Dale said theirs are 32A which means they are 22kW versions.

Jon

July 29, 2011 at 9:14 am

Cool – so a 2 hour charge is quite realistic then.

Now I just need an electric car!

Tim Andrews

November 2, 2011 at 7:17 pm

Hi Paul,
Just picking up on the technology here.

I’ve a Nissan Leaf and recently signed up to your Electric Highway. I’d like to do the journey from Northamptonshire to Bristol using a fast charge (30 mins) at Michaelwood services part way through the journey. However, I’m finding it difficult to get information on the type of connector I can use with my car and the Ecotricity charge point. Can you shed any light on this, I don’t really want to be waiting several hours to be able to make the journey!

Tim

David

November 3, 2011 at 11:41 am

Tim,

You are better off fast charging at Oxford Nissan, as charging at Michaelwood is only abke to provide 16A and thus you will be the 8 hours.

Hi Kevin, it’s not numbers of charging posts that determines if a network is national – it’s location. Surely you can see that.

Our 23 locations will have an annual footfall of 80 million people, they’re on the motorway network – the really big roads that most people use to get somewhere. These are not destination charging stations, they’re all on the way somewhere.

There is a big difference.

Anyway, we should be working together. Is your electricity from renewables? it probably is because that’s what put’s the zero carbon in the equation – but if not maybe we can help you with that.

I would like to see Robert Llewellyns Youtube series ‘Fully Charged’ on a free to air TV channel at the same time slot as Top Gear. Maybe on Channel 5 or Dave.

I think he has done an excellent job and he is able to present the technology in a way that most people can understand.

BTW I thought the BBC news report had a negative flavour.

Paul Churchley

July 28, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Finally there is someone who has taken the bull by the horns and created something that will benefit all EV drivers. Thank you.

I have a Nissan Leaf and although I will not be able to use the rapid charge capability of your network just yet I think that your initiative will do a great deal of good for the uptake of EVs for the future.

As for if it is the first national network or not… yours is the first truly national network that everyone can use and the first that is available to use without having to stay at expensive hotels.

Paul, ZCW Charging Stations are available at Hotels/B&B/Restaurants/Pubs and the charging is either included in the nights stay, price of food, price of drink, etc. The sites range from very simple (budget) locations to 5* so that everyone can find a solution to meet their needs.

Paul Churchley

July 29, 2011 at 12:41 pm

Yes, they are of benefit and I am sure people will use them but they are often in out of the places or require a stay in what is sometimes an expensive hotel rather negating the savings made by using an EV for the trip.

The ZCW charge points is not really a network yet. Right now you have 15 and some more coming along. It has a long way to go.

David

July 29, 2011 at 6:45 pm

To be fair, that’s 12 more than Ecotricity’s at the moment. Not that they are both a good thing. I’d like to see them both grow exponentially.

Many ZCW sites are located adjacent to junctions on the M1, M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M20, M42, A1, A9 and A30. Others are more out of the way, as they are “destination” locations. There are a mix of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, B&Bs and pubs.

David, you can quote what you like. The fact of the matter is that Ecotricity have stolen the ZCW thunder. You and ZCW are desperately trying to justify your efforts when the fact of the matter is that the ZCW network just isn’t very useful regardless of you quoting the few cheap locations.

Ecotricity have done something ZCW hasn’t been able to do: introduce a network that is actually useful to EV drivers now and will become a proper national network over the coming months.

David

July 30, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Paul, if you want to spend 8 hours recharging every 80 miles in a service station then be my guest. The reality is that we need to wait for cars to come along with three phase charging for it to be genuinely useful to normal people – and that is not until late next year.

Otherwise I’ll just repost Kevin’s link from above and let the reader judge for themselves how useful the ZCW network is.

Hi David, I think you’re wrong (with respect) to say that we need to wait for three phase able cars to come along late next year – before electric cars will be useful.

On the one hand I think waiting for technology to improve is a mistake – it does so constantly. And we need to get things moving, we need to break the range anxiety mindset.

And on the other hand our network is all ready providing three phase. Having it in the world before three phase cars, is a good thing. One side of the chicken and egg conundrum dealt with.

The charity nature of the ZCW initiative is surely not relevant – the point of discussion seems to be is it a national network – not is it being built by a nice bunch of people volunteering -which I don’t doubt it is by the way.

And our Electric Highway is any way free to use – this issue is not one of charity versus business.

Cheers.

Chris

July 28, 2011 at 2:59 pm

That’s fantastic news Dale. Is there an App for that?! One perhaps detailing locations on a map, distance from your current location, number of charging stations etc. ? Im sure TomTom would like to know where these are too

With regards to Johns point about tackling the Jeremy Clarkson factor. We simply campaign to get modern day ecopreneur Dale Vince face to face with established EV/climate sceptic Jeremy Clarkson on the ‘star in a reasonably priced car’ feature! I would pay good money to see that stand off. They’ve had the minister for road safety on talking up speed cameras, so why not?

Greetings from the United States and congratulations on launching your electric highway!

It’s exciting to see International progress on electric vehicle charging. It’s good to know that we have a “sister” electric highway project across the pond. It confirms the importance of similar projects underway in the Pacific Northwest and throughout America.

Is the solar panal on the top in use or just for show? I appreciate it would not provide much power but a couple chargers in each location would all add up. I guess either way it shows the ‘green’ credentials of the charger, Ecotricity and the EVer.

p.s. Any future plans to bring your network over towards the east of the UK? Even just along the M62 corridor?

Hi GrumpyCabbie (nice handle…:)), the solar panels do provide power to run the post itself (during the day obviously).

And as you say, it does flag up the green credentials of the facility.

All motorways are in scope, even in the East..:)

Cheers.

Jonny Holt

July 30, 2011 at 11:03 pm

Hello Dale,

Well done! Another marketing coup and something the travelling public will one day regard as mundane and ordinary – the way it should be.

How far north into Scotland do you intend to go? Should I presume that your long-proposed Lands End to John O’Groats jaunt in the Nemesis will be the deciding factor in the northernmost siting of a charging point?

I’m returning to Scotland in the next couple of months and running with the prevailing winds from Lands End to John O’Groats should allow the Tesla to achieve a sub 30 hour time using the public HPC network..

Looking at Nemesis and your 22kW 3 Phase Charging Stations I suspect you are looking at a similar time…. might be an interesting competition

Ryan Johnson

August 7, 2011 at 2:13 pm

Hi Dale,

I have been looking into this a lot and was looking at the M4 in Wales as the Goverment of Wales is looking at giving funding into this area but as yet nothink have come about. I had even contacted Welcome Break just over a year ago with the idea that you have done.

I have also look at going to large blue chip companys and doing the same thing, ( how much does the package cost )

I have also looked into a idea that some over the larger Ft100 share companys could look into off setting the carbon foot print by hiring or renting a wind turbine, its a great idea but I got stuck when I came to talking to the ( crown as for land at sea )

I belive there are lots of roads people could take to help the world we live in but yet people in power are yet not looking to do as much as they can to help.

That’s a little hypocritical. At a sustainable motoring event a company which invests 1.6p of every £1 in new renewables gets exclusivity and headline sponsorship. Yet a company which invests 71.8p per £1 and starts a new national network of charging stations to boost EVs can’t even get a representative through the doors! I don’t see how a small Ecotricity stand will harm the mighty EDF.

IMO emailing the organisers is worth a try…. we did something similar with the lack of charging for people using EV’s to travel to the event… didn’t get us the charging but did get us a commitment to include this in future….

GrumpyCabbie

August 18, 2011 at 10:35 am

Am hoping to go and check out possible EV taxi vehicles.

I can’t believe an EV event doesn’t provide EV charging points! lol

Chris

August 21, 2011 at 7:30 pm

I emailed Mr. Giles Brown – a nice man who replied swiftly

If anyone is interested there is an 8page EV supplement in this Tuesdays (23rd) Independent.

Chris

August 26, 2011 at 6:11 pm

Dale, a friend just put me on to an interesting piece in this months ‘Stuff’ magazine about WiTricity and wireless charging. It talks about how the rapidly evolving technology is expected to be mainstream within 10 years. They also suggest that the 2nd generation Nissan Leaf will be fitted with this technology.

Will you be making a call to WiTricity anytime soon to talk about wireless charging stations?

In terms of a charging station map, have you seen Zap-Map? We are displaying points from both ZCW and Ecotricity (marked with green icons). There are well over 1000 individual charging units now displayed on the map – making it the most comprehensive and up to date map of its kind.

If you know of any points that are not marked, do get in touch. We think both your networks are doing a great job in promoting EVs by helping to develop a widespread infrastructure to support them – keep it up!

Dale, one extremely important point that you have missed out is that, yes it is cheaper to charge electric cars during night time as it is cheaper, however the UK as a whole is becoming a 24hr nation with increased internet capabilities and 24hr shopping leading to companies working 24hr’s a day.

Fair enough at the start, i.e. now, charging your electric car is relatively cheap, but “if” electric cars do take off in the UK then obviously the demand for charging during the night time will increase, thus increasing the cost to charge your vehicle.

The idea that the electric car now is thought of as “the only solution” is because there is very little demand for charging cars during the night. If everyone in the UK had an electric car and where charging their car during the night then the cost for charing would far out way the cost of your normal running costs for a fossil fueled car.

I personally would like to hear your vision for the supple and demand of charing during the night time during the future.

I am not sure where you get the ‘costs’ from. My electricity is the same price no matter what time of day.
The point is that the differences in pricing is an accountancy issue to try and balance load. Most tariffs that charge less at night also charge more during the day. eg. they want to encourage customers that have a 9 to 5 job and leave their homes empty during the day, to use electricity at night so that a power station doesn’t have to be shut down at night.

The main issue regarding costs is fuel or in the case of wind farms, the capital, maintenance and decommissioning costs spread out over the life time of the project and how that is paid for via customer bills.

In any case energy storage is coming along in leaps and bounds. BTW the total capacity of all the proposed offshore UK wind farms is enough to power all UK road transport, even after taking into account the load factor.

Jonathan Hardman

September 7, 2011 at 4:46 pm

Your missing the point Paul, it is the supply versus demand. I said above;

“If everyone in the UK had an electric car and where charging their car during the night then the cost for charing would far out way the cost of your normal running costs for a fossil fueled car.”

Your comment above doesn’t answer this point, you are merely restating what is only apprent at present, not what my point was or what will happen in the future.

You have also ignored the fact that as I have already said, as demand increases, supply will increase thus increasing the cost of using electricity at night to charge your electric car as I have previously stated in my comment above.

Again as I have previously stated;

“I personally would like to hear your vision for the supply and demand of charing during the night time during the future.”

If there is more demand in the evening in the future then the special tariffs might be removed because the imbalance between night and day would have been removed. This however doesn’t affect the cost of the electricity, because in the case of those that are on the cheaper night tariff, their day time tariff will drop.

Will they pay more for their electricity??
Possibly, but not because renewables.
But many of those people probably use electricity at work for personal use, so get a subsidy and perk that way!

Also I would point out that the current discount at night time is a symptom of having large power stations. Since that is changing, a whole new world of tariffs incentives are likely to develop. Neither you nor I can determine how that will develop.

Also, I did answer your question because I clearly stated that the capacity of proposed offshore wind farms in the pipeline, covers the requirements of UK road transport.

Phil D

October 27, 2011 at 1:34 am

Bit late to the party, as only just seen the blog entry. Regardless of any debate about which is the most national national network, this is indeed a welcome development. I do fairly low mileage, but live in a flat, so have no access to home charging, so something like this is the sort of thing that makes me start to consider an EV as and when I replace my current car. It may be the car after that, who knows, but at least the choice is now starting to be a realistic one. One thought does occur with regard national charging networks, and that’s supermarkets. Whatever you think of them, they are the one place most people will go every week and most towns have them. Recharge time (if topping up) is less of an issue, as you are spending that time in the store anyway so can effectively multi-task. Has Ecotricity approached any of the big hypers with a view to having these points in their car parks?

David

November 3, 2011 at 11:35 am

Waitrose have done a deal with the POLAR network to do exactly this.

Mitchell Smitley

December 20, 2011 at 7:55 am

Dale. i just found this and it is troubling to me personally, i thought of this same idea 9 months ago when there was nothing saying it existed and it would appear that you have beat me to the punch. i was hoping to sell it and be stable for the rest of my life, notice the word stable… I dont want to be rich with more money then i can work with. i just want to be secure. I would like to help you with this Wind powered car of yours because i have been running the math and crunching the numbers for almost a year now i have A LOT of new inovative ways to conserve electricity and sustain the charge. I can help you, if you let me, and pay me ofcourse =). Like i said… i’m not looking to get rich, i just want enough to survive without worries. Please help me.

Zero Carbonista

This blog is about answers to the big questions - how will we keep the lights on, what kind of cars will we drive (will we drive?) and how will we feed ourselves - in a post oil world, and a world where we can't afford to keep burning things and throwing things away. Energy, Transport and Food are the three big issues.